Antenna array including virtual antenna elements

ABSTRACT

A method and associated system for effectively increasing the number of antenna elements within a multi-element antenna system through computation of a response of “virtual” antenna elements located along an antenna array. The physical elements of the array are positioned sufficiently near each other to enable synthesis of a polynomial or other mathematical expression characterizing the response of the array to receipt of an incident waveform. Values of the responses associated with the virtual antenna elements of the array may then be determined through evaluation of the synthesized polynomial or other expression. The resultant array response values associated with the virtual and physical elements of the array are then provided to an associated receiver for processing.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/645,349, filed Aug. 21, 2003 issued as U.S. Pat.No. 7,148,845 B2 on Dec. 12, 2006, which claims priority under 35 U.S.C.§119(e) to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/405,285 entitled ANTENNAARRAY INCLUDING VIRTUAL ANTENNA ELEMENTS, filed Aug. 21, 2002, which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a multi-element antenna receiver forradio communication systems, and more particularly to signal processingfor multiple receive antennas of an associated receiver.

2. Background Information

It has recently been proposed that both the performance and capacity ofexisting wireless systems could be improved through the use of so-called“smart” antenna techniques. In particular, it has been suggested thatsuch techniques, coupled with space-time signal processing, could beutilized both to combat the deleterious effects of multipath fading of adesired incoming signal and to suppress interfering signals. In this wayboth performance and capacity of digital wireless systems in existenceor being deployed (e.g., CDMA-based systems, TDMA-based systems, WLANsystems, and OFDM-based systems such as IEEE 802.11a/g) may be improved.

It is anticipated that smart antenna techniques will be increasinglyutilized both in connection with deployment of base stationinfrastructure and mobile subscriber units (e.g, handsets) in cellular.systems in order to address the increasing demands being placed uponsuch systems. These demands are arising in part from the shift underwayfrom current voice-based services to next-generation wireless multimediaservices and the accompanying blurring of distinctions among voice,video and data modes of transmission. Subscriber units utilized in suchnext-generation systems will likely be required to demonstrate highervoice quality relative to existing cellular mobile radio standards aswell as to provide high-speed data services (e.g., as high as 10Mbits/s). Achieving high speed and high quality of service, however, iscomplicated because it is desireable for mobile subscriber units to besmall and lightweight, and to be capable of reliably operating in avariety of environments (e.g., cellular/microcellular/picocellular,urban/suburban/rural and indoor/outdoor). Moreover, in addition tooffering higher-quality communication and coverage, next-generationsystems are desired to more efficiently use available bandwidth and tobe priced affordably to ensure widespread market adoption.

In many wireless systems, three principal factors tend to account forthe bulk of performance and capacity degradation: multipath fading,delay spread between received multipath signal components, andco-channel interference (CCI). As is known, multipath fading is causedby the multiple paths which may be traversed by a transmitted signal enroute to a receive antenna. The signals from these paths add togetherwith different phases, resulting in a received signal amplitude andphase that vary with antenna location, direction and polarization, aswell as with time (as a result of movement through the environment).Increasing the quality or reducing the effective error rate in order toobviate the effects of multipath fading has proven to be extremelydifficult. Although it would be theoretically possible to reduce theeffects of multipath fading through use of higher transmit power oradditional bandwidth, these approaches are often inconsistent with therequirements of next-generation systems.

As mentioned above, the “delay spread” or difference in propagationdelays among the multiple components of received multipath signals hasalso tended to constitute a principal impediment to improved capacityand performance in wireless communication systems. It has been reportedthat when the delay spread exceeds approximately ten percent (10%) ofthe symbol duration, the resulting significant intersymbol interference(ISI) generally limits the maximum data rate. This type of difficultyhas tended to arise most frequently in narrowband systems such as theGlobal System for Mobile Communication (GSM).

The existence of co-channel interference (CCI) also adversely affectsthe performance and capacity of cellular systems. Existing cellularsystems operate by dividing the available frequency channels intochannel sets, using one channel set per cell, with frequency reuse. Mosttime division multiple access (TDMA) systems use a frequency reusefactor of 7, while most code division multiple (CDMA) systems use afrequency reuse factor of 1. This frequency reuse results in CCI, whichincreases as the number of channel sets decreases (i.e., as the capacityof each cell increases). In TDMA systems, the CCI is predominantly fromone or two other users, while in CDMA systems there may exist manystrong interferers both within the cell and from adjacent cells. For agiven level of CCI, capacity can be increased by shrinking the cellsize, but at the cost of additional base stations.

The impairments to the performance of cellular systems of the typedescribed above may be at least partially ameliorated by usingmulti-element antenna systems designed to introduce a diversity gaininto the signal reception process. There exist at least three primarymethods of effecting such a diversity gain through decorrelation of thesignals received at each antenna element: spatial diversity,polarization diversity and angle diversity. In order to realize spatialdiversity, the antenna elements are sufficiently separated to enable lowfading correlation. The required separation depends on the angularspread, which is the angle over which the signal arrives at the receiveantennas.

In the case of mobile subscriber units (e.g, handsets) surrounded byother scattering objects, an antenna spacing of only one quarterwavelength is often sufficient to achieve low fading correlation. Thispermits multiple spatial diversity antennas to be incorporated within ahandset, particularly at higher frequencies (owing to the reduction inantenna size as a function of increasing frequency). Furthermore, dualpolarization antennas can be placed close together, with low fadingcorrelation, as can antennas with different patterns (for angle ordirection diversity).

Although increasing the number of receive antennas enhances variousaspects of the performance of multi-antenna systems, the necessity ofproviding a separate RF chain for each transmit and receive antennaincreases costs. Each RF chain is generally comprised of a low noiseamplifier, filter, downconverter, and analog to digital to converter(AID), with the latter three devices typically being responsible formost of the cost of the RF chain. In certain existing single-antennawireless receivers, the single required RF chain may account for inexcess of 30% of the receiver's total cost. It is thus apparent that asthe number of receive antennas increases, overall system cost and powerconsumption may dramatically increase. It would therefore be desirableto provide a technique that effectively provides additional receiveantennas without proportionately increasing system costs and powerconsumption.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one embodiment, the invention can be characterized as a method, andmeans for accomplishing the method, for processing a signal received byan antenna array, the method including receiving M replicas of thesignal, each of the M replicas being received by one of a correspondingM physical antenna elements of the antenna array; determining Mresponses of the M physical antenna elements to the signal, each of theM responses corresponding to one of the M physical antenna elements; andgenerating, as a function of the M responses, N responses to the signal,wherein each of the N responses represents a response to the signal at adifferent spatial location along the antenna array.

In another embodiment, the invention can be characterized as an antennasystem for receiving a signal comprising: an antenna array including Mphysical antenna elements, wherein the M physical antenna elements arespatially arranged to receive one of a corresponding M replicas of thesignal so as to be capable of generating M replicas of the receivedsignal; and an array processing module including M signal processingchains, wherein each of the M signal processing chains is coupled to oneof the M physical antenna elements. The array processing module isconfigured to generate N signal response values for the antenna array asa function of the M replicas of the received signal, the N signalresponse values including at least one virtual antenna response value,wherein N is greater than M.

In a further embodiment, the invention can be characterized as an arrayprocessing module comprising: M signal processing chains wherein each ofthe M signal processing chains is configured to receive a replica of areceived signal from a corresponding one of M physical antenna elements;and an interpolation module coupled to the M signal processing chains,wherein the interpolation module is configured to generate N signalresponse values for the antenna array as a function of the M replicas ofthe received signal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conventional diversity receiver in whichthe signals received by multiple antenna elements are weighted andcombined in order to generate an output signal;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a conventional spatial-temporal (ST)filtering arrangement;

FIG. 3 is a representation of a multiple-input/multiple-output antennaarrangement within a wireless communication system;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram depicting a conventional architecture of amultiple receive antenna system in the RF domain;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram representing a digital equivalent to thecircuit of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a receiver system incorporating an arrayprocessing module in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating steps carried out by the arrayprocessing module of FIG. 6 when processing a received signal accordingto one embodiment;

FIG. 8A is an illustrative representation of a specific implementationof the antenna array of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8B is an illustrative representation of replicas of a signalreceived by elements of the antenna array of FIG. 6 as a function oftime;

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a uniform linear antenna array disposedto receive a signal;

FIG. 10 is a block diagram depicting an antenna system incorporating avirtual-element antenna array established in accordance with the presentinvention;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating steps carried out by the antennasystem of FIG. 10 according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a block diagram depicting another antenna systemincorporating a virtual-element antenna array established in accordancewith another embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 13 is a block diagram depicting yet another antenna systemincorporating a virtual-element antenna array established in accordancewith yet another embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the following description, various aspects of the present inventionwill be described. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in theart that the present invention may be practiced with only some or allaspects of the present invention. For purposes of explanation, specificnumbers, materials and configurations are set forth in order to providea thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will alsobe apparent to one skilled in the art that the present invention may bepracticed without the specific details. In other instances, well knownfeatures are omitted or simplified in order not to obscure the presentinvention.

Various operations will be described as multiple discrete stepsperformed in turn in a manner that is most helpful in understanding thepresent invention, however, the order of description should not beconstrued as to imply that these operations are necessarily orderdependent, in particular, the order the steps are presented.Furthermore, the phrase “in one embodiment” will be used repeatedly,however the phrase does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment,although it may.

The present invention is directed to a method of effectively increasingthe number of antenna elements within a multi-element antenna systemthrough computation of a response of “virtual” antenna elementspositioned among physical elements of an antenna array. In accordancewith several embodiments of the invention, the physical elements of thearray are positioned sufficiently near each other to enable synthesis ofa polynomial or other mathematical expression characterizing theresponse of the array to receipt of an incident waveform. Values of theresponses associated with the virtual antenna elements of the array maythen be determined through evaluation of the synthesized polynomial orother expression. The resultant array response values associated withthe virtual and physical elements of the array may then be provided toan associated receiver for processing.

In this way the present invention enhances performance without inducingthe complexity which would be attendant to straightforwardly increasingthe number of physical antenna elements and associated signal processingpaths. In a particular embodiment, the present invention may be used todesirably reduce the complexity, power consumption and cost associatedwith the deployment of multiple antenna elements upon mobile devices.This embodiment may be implemented to effectively increase the number ofantenna elements from M physical elements to greater than M effectiveantenna elements. This increase is effected by using availableinterpolation techniques (e.g., Lagrange interpolation) to create a setof virtual antenna elements interposed between the M physical antennaelements and/or using available extrapolation techniques to create avirtual antenna element at an edge of an antenna array.

The present invention is not limited to mobile devices and may also beapplied to infrastructure elements (e.g., base stations and accesspoints). In addition, the present invention is applicable’ to nearly allknown wireless standards and modulation schemes (e.g., GSM, CDMA2000,WCDMA, WLAN, fixed wireless standards, OFDM and CDMA).

In order to facilitate appreciation of the principals of the invention,a brief overview of various conventional multi-element antenna systemsdesigned to mitigate delay spread, interference and fading effects isprovided with reference to FIGS. 1-5.

Referring first to FIG. 1, shown is a block diagram of a conventionaldiversity receiver 100 in which the signals received by multiple antennaelements are weighted and combined in order to generate an outputsignal. Shown in the conventional diversity receiver 100 are acollection of M antenna elements 102, and coupled with each respectiveantenna element are parallel receive chains 104, 106, 108 that includerespective weighting portions 110, 112, 114. The receive chains 104,106, 108 all couple with a combiner 116 and a combined single 118 exitsfrom the combiner 116.

With M antenna elements, such an array generally provides an increasedantenna gain of “M” as well as a diversity gain against multipath fadingdependent upon the correlation of the fading among the antenna elements.In this context the antenna gain is defined as the reduction in requiredreceive signal power for a given average output signal-to-noise ratio(SNR), while the diversity gain is defined as the reduction in therequired average output SNR for a given bit error rate (BER) withfading.

For interference mitigation, each of the M antenna elements 102 areweighted at the respective weighting portions 110, 112, 114 and combinedin the combiner 116 to maximize signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio(SINR). This weighting process is usually implemented in a manner thatminimizes mean squared error (MMSE), and utilizes the correlation of theinterference to reduce the interference power.

Turning now to FIG. 2, a block diagram is shown of a conventionalspatial-temporal (ST) filtering arrangement 200. Shown are a firstantenna 202 and a second antenna 204 respectively coupled to a firstlinear equalizer 206 and a second linear equalizer 208. Outputs of eachof the first and second linear equalizers 206, 208 are coupled to acombiner 210, and an output of the combiner 201 is coupled to anMLSE/DFE portion 212.

The filtering arrangement of FIG. 2 is designed to eliminate delayspread using joint space-time processing. In general, since the CCI isunknown at the receiver, optimum spacetime (ST) equalizers, either inthe sense of a minimum mean square error (1V1MSE) or maximumsignal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), typically include awhitening filter. For example, linear equalizers (LE) 206, 208 thatwhiten the CCI both spatially and temporally, and the filteringarrangement of FIG. 2 are typical of such systems. As shown in FIG. 2,the linear equalizers (LE) 206, 208 are followed by a non-linear filterthat is represented by the MLSE/DFE portion 212, which is implementedusing either a decision feedback equalizer (DFE) or maximum-likelihoodsequence estimator (MLSE).

As is known to one of ordinary skill in the art, the turbo principle canalso be used to replace the non-linear filters with superiorperformance, but higher computational complexity. Using ST processing(STP) techniques, SNR gains of up to 4 dB and SINR gains of up to 21 dBhave been reported with a modest number of antenna elements.

Referring next to FIG. 3, shown is a generic representation of amultiple input/multiple-output antenna arrangement within a wirelesscommunication system 300. Shown are a transmitter (TX) 302 coupled tomultiple transmit antennas 304, which are shown transmitting a signalvia time varying obstructions 306 to multiple receive antennas 308coupled to a receiver (RX) 310. As shown, multiple antenna elements aredeployed at both the transmitter (TX) 302 and receiver (RX) 310 of thewireless communication system 300.

In addition to multiple-input/multiple-output antenna (MIMO)arrangements, other antenna arrangements may be categorized, based uponthe number of “inputs” and “outputs” to the channel linking atransmitter and receiver, as follows:

-   -   Single-input/single-output (SISO) systems, which include        transceivers (e.g., mobile units and a base station) with a        single antenna for uplink and down link communications.    -   Multi-input/single-output (MISO) systems, which include one or        more receivers, which downlink via multiple antenna inputs, and        one or more transmitters, which uplink via a single antenna        output.    -   Single-input/multi-output (SIMO) systems, which include one or        more receivers, which downlink via a single antenna input, and        one or more transmitters, which uplink via multiple antenna        outputs.

One aspect of the attractiveness of multi-element antenna arrangements,particularly MIMOs, resides in the significant system capacityenhancements that can be achieved using these configurations. Assumingperfect estimates of the applicable channel at both the transmitter andreceiver are available, in a MIMO system with M receive antennas thereceived signal decomposes to M independent channels. This results in anM-fold capacity increase relative to SISO systems. For a fixed overalltransmitted power, the capacity offered by MIMOs scale with increasingSNR for a large, but practical, number of M of antenna elements.

In the particular case of fading multipath channels, it has been foundthat the use of MIMO arrangements permits capacity to be scaled bynearly M additional bits/cycle for each 3 dB increase in SNR. This MIMOscaling attribute is in contrast to a baseline configuration,characterized by M=1, which by Shannon's classical formula scales as onemore bit/cycle for every 3-dB of SNR increase. It is noted that thisincrease in capacity that MIMO systems afford is achieved without anyadditional bandwidth relative to the single element baselineconfiguration.

However, widespread deployment of multi-element antenna arrangements inwireless communication systems (particularly within wireless handsets)has been hindered by the resultant increase in complexity and associatedincreased power consumption, cost and size. These parameter increasesresult, at least in part, from a requirement in many proposedarchitectures that a separate receiver chain be provided for eachantenna element.

For example, FIG. 4 depicts one conventional architecture of a multiplereceive antenna system 400 in the RF domain. As shown, theimplementation of FIG. 4 includes a separate receive chain 402, 404, 406for each of M antenna elements, and each receive chain 402, 404, 406includes elements to perform amplification, filtering and mixing. As aconsequence, the cost of implementing the system 400 is higher than thatof implementing a system with a single receive chain. Moreover, addingadditional antenna elements is often prohibited by the added cost, spaceand/or power associated with additional antenna elements.

The approach exemplified by the system 400 is further disadvantageousbecause analog phase shifters and variable gain amplifiers are utilized,which renders it relatively expensive and susceptible to performancedegradation as a result of aging, temperature variation, and deviationfrom prescribed tolerances. In addition, because the implementation ofFIG. 4 makes use of a phase relationship between the received andtransmitted antenna elements (i.e., the path differential delay ismaintained throughout each receive processing chain), rigid adherence totolerances and accurate calibration is required in each RF processingchain.

Referring next FIG. 5, shown is a block diagram representing a digitalequivalent to the system 400 of FIG. 4. In general, the performance ofthe digital circuit arrangement 500 of FIG. 5 is degraded forsubstantially the same reasons as was described above with reference toFIG. 4. That is, the duplication of an entire receiver chain (i.e., fromRF to baseband) associated with each antenna element leads to anincrease in size, cost, complexity and power consumption. As a result,adding additional antenna elements in multiple receive antenna systemshas heretofore been unsuitable for deployment in the handsets and othermobile terminals used within wireless communication systems.

Overview and System Architecture

The present invention is directed to a system and method forimplementing multiple antenna elements within mobile devices in a mannerthat potentially reduces the costs and power consumption which typicallyaccompany multi-element antenna arrangements.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a receiver system 600 incorporating anarray-processing module 610 in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention. The array-processing module 610 receives informationfrom M physical antenna elements 614 of an antenna array 618 which has Nelements. In addition to the M physical antenna elements 614, theantenna array 618 also effectively includes a set of virtual (i.e.,non-physical) antenna elements 622. While referring to FIG. 6,simultaneous reference will be made to FIG. 7, which is a flow chartillustrating steps carried out by the array-processing module 610 whenprocessing a signal received by the antenna array 618.

The array-processing module 610 is operative to synthesize the responsesof the virtual antenna elements 622 to waveforms impinging upon theantenna array 618. These responses, together with the responses producedby the M physical antenna elements 614 are then forwarded to a receiver630 for further processing. In one embodiment, the array-processingmodule 610 further processes the responses from both the virtual antennaelements 622 and the M physical antenna elements 614 before forwardingthem to the receiver 630.

In operation, a signal impinges upon the antenna array 618 and each ofthe M physical antenna elements 614 receives a replica of the signal.The array-processing module 610 then receives the M replicas of thesignal from the M physical antenna elements 614 (Step 700).

Next, the array-processing module 610 determines a response of each ofthe M physical antenna elements to the signal (Step 702). As discussedfurther herein, in some embodiments, the response of each of the Mphysical antenna elements 614 is calculated as a function of a weightingparameter that is associated with each M physical antenna elements 614.In other embodiments, the response of each of the M physical antennaelements 614 is obtained by sampling each of a corresponding one of theM replicas of the signal.

After the responses of the M physical antenna elements 614 aredetermined, the array-processing module 610 calculates responses of thevirtual antenna elements 622 to the signal as a function of theresponses of the M physical antenna elements 614 (Step 704). In severalembodiments, the response of each of the virtual antenna elements 622 iscalculated by interpolating and/or extrapolating responses of at leasttwo of the M physical antenna elements 614.

Thus, the array processing module 610 provides N responses to thesignal, i.e., a response for each element of the antenna array 618 (Step706). The N responses may then be further processed by the arrayprocessing module 610 before being forwarded to the receiver 630.

Advantageously, the array processing module 610 effectively provides thereceiver 630 with an antenna array having N (e.g., five) elements,notwithstanding that only M (e.g., three) physical antenna elements 614are deployed. As a consequence, the array processing module provides theadvantages of an antenna array which has N physical elements without theassociated cost and power consumption typically associated with Nreceiver chains.

It should be noted that the array processing module 610 may beimplemented as a set of instructions that are performed in dedicatedhardware, firmware or in software using a processor or other machine toexecute the instructions to accomplish the provided functionality. Itshould also be noted that the array processing module 610 and thereceiver 630 are illustrated as separate blocks in FIG. 6 for purposesof describing specific functions carried out by the array processingmodule 610, but the processing module 610 may share the same hardwareutilized by the receiver: Furthermore, the array processing module 610may be incorporated as part of the receiver 630.

Turning now to FIGS. 8A and 8B, shown is an illustrative representationof the antenna array 618 exposed to a signal 602 and a representation ofreplicas of the signal received by elements the antenna array 618 as afunction of time, respectively. As will be described hereinafter,adjacent ones of the physical antenna elements 614 are spatiallyseparated by no more than a distance N2, where 1% represents thewavelength of the signal energy received by the antenna array 618. Asshown, the antenna array 618 includes a set of three physical antennaelements 614 (i.e., M=3) and two virtual antenna elements 622, therebyeffectively yielding a 5-element array (i.e., N=5). As shown in FIG. 8A,as a wave front of the signal 602 approaches the antenna array 618 fromleft to right at an angle Ø with respect to a direction 604 normal tothe antenna array 618, a first signal replica S₀ is received at a leftmost physical antenna element first, and the right most antenna element614, which is separated from the left most physical antenna element 614by a distance of 4*d, will not receive a corresponding replica S₂ of thesignal until 4*(dsin Ø/c) seconds later.

As shown in FIG. 8B, after a delay of 4*(dsin Ø/c) seconds the rightmost physical antenna element 614 receives the replica S₂ of the signal.As a consequence, after the replica S₂ of the signal is received at theright most antenna, the left most antenna has received the signal forfive periods (of dsin Ø/c seconds each). As shown, after a delay of4*(dsin Ø/c) seconds, a response of the entire antenna array 618 may becalculated by interpolating responses of the physical antenna elements614 to the signal replicas S₀, S₁, S₂.

The principles of the present invention may be further appreciated byreference to various aspects of time-frequency signal processing. Inthis regard it is observed that a filter is characterized by values ofits impulse response, h_(m), spaced regularly with a time T betweensamples. A linear shift-invariant system is also characterized by thefrequency response:

$\begin{matrix}{{H\left( {\mathbb{e}}^{{j\omega}\; T} \right)} = {\sum\limits_{m = 0}^{M - 1}{h_{m}{\mathbb{e}}^{{- j}\; m\;\omega\; T}}}} & (1)\end{matrix}$which is given in equation (1) for a finite length impulse responsecomprised of M samples, represented by {t_(m)}. Consistent with thewell-known sampling theorem, in order to prevent any phase ambiguitiesfrom arising it is necessary for the sampling interval (T) and theangular frequency (ω) to be set such that the argument in the exponentof (1) satisfies the relationship ωT≦π.

Referring now to FIG. 9, a uniform linear antenna array 900 is seen toinclude a plurality of physical array elements 904. The array elements904 are of element length l, and are mutually separated by an elementdistance d. In addition, a signal waveform S impinges upon the linearantenna array 900 from an angular direction φ. If it is assumed that thearray 900 includes M physical array elements 904 regularly spaced with adistance d, then these array elements 904 are located at x_(m)=md form=0, . . . , M−1. The array 900 may be characterized by an aperturesmoothing function which may be expressed as

$\begin{matrix}{{W(u)} = {\sum\limits_{m = 0}^{M - 1}{w_{m}{\mathbb{e}}^{{- j}\; m\; 2{\pi{({u/\lambda})}}d}}}} & (2)\end{matrix}$where w_(m) is a weighting parameter associated with each array element,φ is the angle (i.e., the azimuth angle) between broadside of the array900 and the direction of the incident waveforth of wavelength λ, andwhere the variable u is defined by the expression u=sin φ. In theexemplary embodiment the weights w_(m) define a standard windowingfunction or can be adaptively altered according to specified criteria.

It may be appreciated that certain aspects of the expression in equation(2) may be derived from the geometry of FIG. 9. Specifically, for anincident waveform originating at an infinite distance from array 900,the difference in the distance traveled between two neighboring elements904 is d sin φ. When this distance is converted to phase angle, theresult is the expression in the exponent of equation (2) (where eachwavelength λ of distance traveled corresponds to 2π). In summary,formulation and computation of the array smoothing function of equation(2) involves weighting the responses of all elements of the array 900,summing the weighted responses, and outputting the sum of the weightedresponses.

It is noted that the aperture smoothing function of equation (2)indicates the manner in which the Fourier transform of the incidentwaveform is “smoothed” or otherwise altered as a consequence ofobservation through a finite aperture. This may be considered analogousto the role of the frequency response characterizing a filteringoperation, which reveals the way in which the spectrum of the receivedsignal is smoothed by such filtering operation.

Given the analogous relationship between equations (1) and (2), thepresent invention recognizes that the constraints needing to be imposedupon the parameters in equation (1) to prevent an aliasing conditionfrom arising in equation (1) permit development of similar“antialiasing” constraints in equation (2). In particular, the argumentin the exponent of equation (2) must satisfy the following constraint toensure that an aliasing condition does not arise:

$\begin{matrix}{{2\pi\frac{u}{\lambda}d} = {{k_{x}d} \leq \pi}} & (3)\end{matrix}$where k_(x)=2πu/λ is the x-component of the wave number.

The relationship between the array pattern for the one-dimensional arrayof FIG. 9 and a filter frequency response may now be expressed as:

$\begin{matrix}{{\left. \omega\leftrightarrow k_{x} \right. = {2\pi\frac{u}{\lambda}}}\left. T\leftrightarrow d \right.\left. h_{n}\leftrightarrow w_{n} \right.\left. \left\{ t_{m} \right\}\leftrightarrow M \right.} & (4)\end{matrix}$In view of equation (4), the time-frequency sampling constraintT≦π/ω_(max) may be expressed as a spatial domain sampling constraintd≦λ_(min)/2.

In accordance with the invention, it has been recognized by theinventors that the relationships set forth in equation (4) allow timedomain interpolation techniques to be applied to linear antenna arraysin order to enable computation of the responses of “virtual antennas”that may be either interposed between the physical elements of the arrayor positioned at an edge of an array. That is, application ofinterpolation and extrapolation techniques to the responses generated bythe physical elements of a linear array (e.g., the array 618, 900)permits derivation of responses of various virtual antennas among thephysical elements of the array, (e.g., the array 618, 900). As wasmentioned above, this concept is illustratively represented by theplacement of virtual antenna elements 622 among the physical antennaelements 614 in FIG. 8A.

Various well known time domain interpolation and extrapolationtechniques may be used to generate the responses of the virtual arrayelements 622 on the basis of the responses of the physical elements 614,904 of the array 618, 900. It may be appreciated that such “sampling”within the spatial domain effectively amounts to an estimation of anarray response given a specific antenna geometry, input signal carrierfrequency and angle of incidence of the received waveform. Time domainestimation approaches such as, for example, Lagrange techniques andRadial Basis Function (RBF) networks may be utilized for interpolationand extrapolation, however, Lagrange techniques are less effective thanRBF techniques for extrapolating. Since RBF networks may be used tosolve nonlinearly separable classification problems, such networks canalso be employed to perform interpolation and/or extrapolationoperations upon a set of data points in a multi-dimensional space. Thoseskilled in the art will appreciate that other interpolation andextrapolation techniques may be utilized in a manner consistent with theinvention, and that the above techniques should be consideredillustrative and not of exclusive utility. Those of ordinary skill inthe art will also appreciate that the effectiveness of interpolating andextrapolating depends upon the correlation among the antennas.

A specific example of the use of interpolation and extrapolationtechniques to determine the responses of virtual antennas distributedthroughout an array of physical antenna elements will now be provided.Considering equation (7) below, a polynomial of degree n may beconstructed so as to coincide with a given function at n+1 uniform ornon-uniform points using Lagrange interpolation. For present purposes,the Lagrange interpolation theorem contemplates that given n+1 distinct(real or complex) points, Z₀, Z₁, . . . , Z_(n) and n+1 (real orcomplex) values, W₀, W₁, . . . , W_(n), there exists a unique polynomialP_(n)(Z)∈

_(n) for whichp _(n)(z _(i))=w _(i) ,∀i=0,1, . . . , n.  (5)In view of the transformations into the spatial domain set forth in(2)-(4), the expression in (5) may be used to derive a Lagrange spatialinterpolation theorem:p _(m)(d _(i))=w _(i) ,∀i=0,1, . . . ,m.  (6)where d_(i) is the spacing between adjacent elements of an antennaarray.

Lagrange interpolation may be alternately characterized as a method offinding a polynomial y=f(x) which passes through a specified set of npoints {x(i), y(i)}, 1≦i≦n, in a plane. Only a single condition isplaced upon the points; namely, that all points should have differentx-coordinates. That is, x(i)=x(j) if and only if i=j. Such a polynomialis defined as follows. For 1≦j≦n, let

$\begin{matrix}{p^{({j,x})} = {\prod\limits_{i \neq j}\left\{ {x - {x(i)}} \right\}}} & (7)\end{matrix}$The expression in equation (7) is zero at every one of the n pointsexcept x(j), where it is nonzero. Next, let

$\begin{matrix}{y = {{f(x)} = {\sum\limits_{j = 1}^{n}{{y(j)}{{p\left( {j,x} \right)}/{p\left( {j,{x(j)}} \right)}}}}}} & (8)\end{matrix}$The polynomial in equation (8) is nominally of degree n−1, and has theproperty that f(x(i))=y(i) for every i. As an example, a polynomial isconstructed using equation (8) on the basis of two points {x(1), y(1)}and {x(2), y(2)}. In this case, p(1,x)=x−x⁽²⁾, p(2,x)=x−x⁽¹⁾.Continuing:

$\begin{matrix}{y = {f(x)}} & (9) \\{\mspace{14mu}{= {{{{y(1)}\left\lbrack {x - {x(2)}} \right\rbrack}/\left\lbrack {{x(1)} - {x(2)}} \right\rbrack} + {{{y(2)}\left\lbrack {x - {x(1)}} \right\rbrack}/\left\lbrack {{x(2)} - {x(1)}} \right\rbrack}}}} & (10) \\{\mspace{14mu}{= {{{x\left\lbrack {{y(1)} - {y(2)}} \right\rbrack}/\left\lbrack {{x(1)} - {x(2)}} \right\rbrack} + {\left\lbrack {{{x(1)}{y(2)}} - {{x(2)}{y(1)}}} \right\rbrack/\left\lbrack {{x(1)} - {x(2)}} \right\rbrack}}}} & \; \\\begin{matrix}{{y - {y(2)}} = {{{x\left\lbrack {{y(1)} - {y(2)}} \right\rbrack}/\left\lbrack {{x(1)} - {x(2)}} \right\rbrack} + {\left\lbrack {{{x(2)}{y(2)}} - {{x(2)}{y(1)}}} \right\rbrack/}}} \\{\left\lbrack {{x(1)} - {x(2)}} \right\rbrack} \\{= {{{x\left\lbrack {{y(1)} - {y(2)}} \right\rbrack}/\left\lbrack {{x(1)} - {x(2)}} \right\rbrack} - {{{x(2)}\left\lbrack {{y(1)} - {y(2)}} \right\rbrack}/}}} \\{{\left\lbrack {{x(1)} - {x(2)}} \right\rbrack\left\lbrack {y - {y(2)}} \right\rbrack}/\left\lbrack {{y(1)} - {y(2)}} \right\rbrack} \\{= {\left\lbrack {x - {x(2)}} \right\rbrack/\left\lbrack {{x(1)} - {x(2)}} \right\rbrack}}\end{matrix} & (11)\end{matrix}$It is observed that equation (11) corresponds to an equation of a linethrough the two points {x(1), y(1)} and {x(2), y(2)}.

Consider now a numerical example involving three points (−2,5), (0,1),and (3,7). Thenp(1,x)=(x−0)(x−3)=x ²−3xp(2,x)=(x+2)(x−3)=x ² −x−6  (12)p(3,x)=(x+2)(x−0)=x ²+2xNow

$\begin{matrix}\begin{matrix}{y = {{f(x)} = {{5{\left( {x^{2} - {3x}} \right)/10}} + {1{\left( {x^{2} - x - 6} \right)/\left( {- 6} \right)}} + {7{\left( {x^{2} + {2x}} \right)/15}}}}} \\{= {{{4/5}x^{2}} - {{2/5}x} + 1}} \\{= \frac{{4x^{2}} - {2x} + 5}{5}}\end{matrix} & (13)\end{matrix}$This may be checked as follows:f(−2)=(16+4+5)/5=5f(0)=(0+0+5)/5=1  (14)f(3)=(36−6+5)/5=7.

Referring again to FIG. 8A, the spatial interpolation contemplated byequation (6) may be applied to develop the array 618. In particular, thethree physical antenna elements 614 (i.e., M=3) of the array 618 may beextended into a five-element antenna system (i.e., N=2×3−1=5) byderiving a suitable polynomial using Lagrange spatial interpolation (itbeing understood that different interpolation schemes may yielddifferent numbers of virtual antennas given M physical antennas). Theresponses of the virtual antennas 622 of the array 618 may then beobtained by evaluating the polynomial at desired locations between thephysical antennas of the array 618. The array 618, which contains threephysical elements 614 and two virtual elements 622, will have the samestatistical properties in a correlated environment as a linear antennaarray containing five physical elements. This property enablesconstruction of a sparse array based upon a conventional array havingregular spacing between elements. In the example of FIG. 8A, the antennaspacing, d_(m)=λ/2 and d_(n)=λ/4, is uniform but such uniformity is nota required criteria. That is, the teachings of the present invention mayalso be used to construct a random array, in one or more dimensions, inwhich a certain fraction of the elements are removed at random.

The antenna element spacing (i.e., spatial sampling) can be optimizedusing the criteria of minimization of the maximum sidelobe energy, orminimization of the sidelobe energy. By optimizing both the antennaelement spacing and the array weighting function, it is possible toconstruct a non-uniform antenna array with optimal spatial suppression.This optimization may be effected by using an optimization criteria suchas optimal interference suppression. For example, a predefined trainingsequence applied to the array could be utilized as weighting criteria inconnection with optimization of the weights associated with the arrayelements.

Turning now to FIG. 10, there is shown an antenna system 1000incorporating a virtual-element antenna array 1010 established inaccordance with the present invention. The array 1010 includes Mphysical antenna elements 1014 and one or more virtual antenna elements1018 which may be positioned among the M physical antenna elements 1014.A down conversion portion 1004 is coupled to the M physical antennaelements 1014, and is operable to convert signal replicas received ateach of the M physical antenna elements 1014 from RF to baseband.

In this embodiment, the down conversion portion 1004 is within thearray-processing module 1002 and is coupled to each of M physical signalprocessing chains 1040, which receive baseband replicas of the receivedsignal from the down conversion portion 1004. As shown, the M physicalantenna elements 1040 are coupled to a summing portion 1050 via the Mphysical signal processing chains 1040.

The array-processing module 1002 further includes an adaptive weightingmodule 1022 and an interpolation module 1030 operatively connected to afirst plurality of physical weighting elements 1034 and a secondplurality of physical weighting elements 1038, respectively. As shown,each of the first plurality of physical weighting elements 1034 arecoupled with a corresponding one of the M physical signal processingchains 1040. Each of the second plurality of physical weighting elements1038 are also coupled with a corresponding one of the M physical signalprocessing chains 1040, but are coupled “down stream” along the physicalprocessing chains 1040 relative to the first plurality of physicalweighting elements 1034. In the present embodiment, the interpolationmodule 1030 is also operatively connected to one or more virtualweighting elements 1042, which are coupled to the summing portion 1050.

The first plurality of physical weighting elements 1034 are iterativelyadjusted in accordance with predefined algorithms executed by theadaptive weighting module 1022. Similarly, the second plurality ofphysical weighting elements 1038 and the one or more virtual weightingelements 1042 are iteratively adjusted in accordance with predefinedalgorithms executed by the interpolation module 1030. While referring toFIG. 10, simultaneous reference will be made to FIG. 11, which is aflowchart illustrating steps carried out by the antenna system 1000according to one embodiment of the present invention.

It should be recognized that the interpolation module 1030 is notlimited to performing interpolation calculations. As one of ordinaryskill in the art will appreciate, the interpolation module 1030 may beused to extrapolate response values of virtual antenna elements fromresponse values of physical antenna elements; thus a response value fora virtual antenna element located at an end of an antenna array may becalculated.

During operation of the antenna system 1000, each of the M physicalantenna elements 1014 receives a replica of a signal (Step 1100). As aconsequence, each of the physical signal processing chains 1040 receivesone of M replicas of the signal. Based on the M replicas of the signal,the adaptive weighting module 1022 establishes M corresponding physicalweighting parameters (Step 1102). Specifically, the physical weightingparameters (that are to be ascribed to the first plurality of physicalweighting elements 1034) are initially determined by way of a constraintadaptive algorithm executed by the adaptive weighting module 1022. Suchan adaptive algorithm processes the input to the antenna array 1010(i.e., the M replicas of the signal) and calculates a set of weightingparameters (e.g., complex values) to be associated with the first set ofphysical weighting elements 1034.

After execution of a number of iterations of the adaptive algorithm bythe adaptive weighting module 1022, a response value for each of the Mphysical antenna elements 1014 is determined as a function of acorresponding one of the weighting parameters (Step 1104) using, forexample, equation 2. The M response values (corresponding to the Mphysical antenna elements 1014) are then interpolated by any of thetechniques previously discussed in order to calculate the response valueof the one or more virtual antenna elements 1018 (Step 1106). Theresulting response values for the one or more virtual antenna elements1018 and the response values for the M physical antenna elements 1014collectively provide an array response.

The resulting array response is then used by the interpolation module1030 to calculate a new set of weight parameters for the physicalweighting elements 1038 and virtual weighting element(s) 1042 (Step1108). The weighted signals from the physical weighting elements 1038and virtual weighting element(s) 1042 are then combined at the summingportion 1050, which provides a representation of the received signal atan output of the antenna-processing module 1002.

Referring next to FIG. 12, there is shown an antenna system 1200incorporating a virtual-element antenna array 1210 established inaccordance with another embodiment of the present invention. The antennaarray 1210 includes N total antenna elements, which includes first,second, and third physical antenna elements 1214, 1216, 1217 as well asfirst and second virtual antenna elements 1218, 1220. The first virtualantenna element 1218 is shown interposed between the first and thesecond physical antenna elements 1214, 1216 and the second virtualantenna element 1220 is shown at an edge of the antenna array 1210adjacent to the third physical antenna element 1217. The first, secondand third physical antenna elements 1214, 1216, 1217 are a subset of acollection of M physical antenna elements, which are a subset of the Ntotal antenna elements in the antenna array 1210.

Coupled to each of the M physical antenna elements is a correspondingone of M physical signal processing chains 1240, which are shown withinan array-processing module 1202. As shown, each of the M physicalprocessing chains 1240 terminates at a summing portion 1250, and alongeach of the M physical processing chains 1240 is a physical weightingelement 1238.

The array-processing module 1202 also includes first and second virtualsignal generators 1244, 1246, which are coupled to a first and secondvirtual signal processing chains 1248, 1249, respectively. The first andsecond virtual signal processing chains 1248, 1249 terminate at thesumming portion 1250 and include first and second virtual weightingelements 1242, 1243, respectively.

In this embodiment, an interpolation module 1230 in the array-processingmodule 1202 is coupled to each of the M physical signal processingchains 1240 so that it is capable of sampling a signal replica receivedat each of the M physical antenna elements. The interpolation module1230 is also coupled to the first and second virtual signal generators1244, 1246, which function to generate signals representative of thereceived signal at spatial locations of the first and second virtualantenna elements 1218, 1220, respectively.

It is contemplated that the processing performed by the array-processingmodule 1200 may be performed at RF and/or at baseband. The interpolationmodule 1230, for example, may sample and operate on RF signals, whilethe adaptive weighting portion 1222 calculates weight parameters forbaseband signals. Alternatively, both the interpolation module 1230 andthe adaptive weighting module 1222 may operate in the RF domain. Forpurposes of describing the operation of the antenna system 1200,however, it is assumed that the interpolation module 1230 and theadaptive weighting module 1222 are operating in the baseband domain,i.e., replicas of a received signal are down converted by a downconversion portion (not shown) before being sampled.

In operation, when a received signal impinges upon the antenna array1210, each of the M physical antenna elements receives a correspondingone of M replicas of the signal. The interpolation module 1230 thendetermines a response of each of the M physical antenna elements to thesignal by sampling each of a corresponding one of the M replicas of thesignal.

The interpolation module 1230 then calculates a response of the firstand second virtual antenna elements 1218, 1220 as a function of the Msampled signal replicas. This calculation involves interpolatingresponses of the first and second physical antenna elements 1214, 1216to determine a response of the first virtual antenna element 1218, andextrapolating responses of at least a portion of the M physical antennaelements (including the third physical antenna element 1217) todetermine a response of the second virtual antenna element 1220. Thesecalculations may be performed according to any of the techniquespreviously discussed to calculate the response values of the first andsecond virtual antenna elements 1218, 1220. One of ordinary skill in theart will appreciate that there must be a sufficient correlation(established by antenna spacing) among the M physical antenna elementsbefore the interpolation and extrapolation techniques are effective.

In the present embodiment, the amplitude of the M sampled signalreplicas is assumed to be the same across the antenna array 1210, andonly phase values of the first and second virtual antenna elements 1218,1220 are calculated by one of the previously discussed techniques. Inother embodiments, however, signal amplitude and phase information forthe M sampled signal replicas is utilized to calculate response valuesfor virtual antenna elements.

The interpolation module 1230 then provides each of the first and secondvirtual signal generators 1244, 1246 with separate phase information,which is utilized by the virtual signal generators 1244, 1246 togenerate a first and second virtual antenna responses for the first andsecond antenna elements 1218, 1220, respectively. In the presentembodiment, the phase information is a phase offset, which whenmultiplied by a signal replica received at a physical antenna element,provides a virtual antenna element response for a virtual antennaelement adjacent to the physical antenna element.

As shown in FIG. 12, for example, the replica of the signal received atthe first physical antenna element 1214 is provided to the first virtualsignal generator 1244 where the replica of the signal is multiplied by aphase offset to generate a response to the first virtual antenna element1218, which represents a response to the received signal at the spatiallocation of the first virtual antenna element 1218. Similarly, thereplica of the signal received at the third physical antenna element1217 is provided to the second virtual signal generator 1246 where thereplica of the signal is multiplied by a phase offset to generate aresponse to the second virtual antenna element 1218, which represents aresponse to the received signal at the spatial location of the secondvirtual antenna 1220.

As a result, the array-processing module 1202 generates N responses tothe received signal as a function of M received signal replicas; namely,the M responses generated from the M physical antenna elements and thecalculated responses of the first and second virtual antenna elements1218, 1220.

In the present embodiment, each of the M responses to the signal isweighted by a weighting parameter (calculated by the adaptive weightingmodule 1222) at a corresponding one of the physical weighting elements1238, and the responses to the first and second virtual antenna elements1218, 1220 are weighted by a weighting parameter at the first and secondvirtual weighting elements 1242, 1243, respectively. The weightedresponses of the M physical antenna elements and the weighted responsesof the first and second virtual antenna elements 1218, 1220 are thencombined at the summing portion 1250 to form a signal representative ofthe signal received at the antenna array 1210, which is provided as anoutput of the array processing module 1202.

Referring next to FIG. 13, there is shown an antenna system 1300incorporating a virtual element antenna array 1310 established inaccordance with yet another embodiment of the present invention. In thisembodiment, the antenna system 1300 is the same as the antenna system1200 except that a third virtual antenna element 1324 is in place of thesecond physical antenna element 1216. Additionally, the physicalprocessing chain 1240 associated with the second physical antennaelement 1216 has been replaced with a third virtual processing chain1352, which is coupled to a third virtual signal generator 1350 andincludes a third virtual weighting element 1354

As shown, in this embodiment the third virtual signal generator 1350generates a response to the third virtual antenna element 1324 bymultiplying a replica of a signal received at a first physical antennaelement 1314 by a phase offset provided by the interpolation module1330. As a consequence, responses of two adjacent virtual antennaelements 1318, 1324 are generated for subsequent processing. One ofordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the two adjacent virtualantenna elements 1318, 1324 must be close enough to at least twocorrelated physical antenna elements of the antenna array 1310 toprovide an accurate representation of responses of the two adjacentvirtual antennas 1318, 1324 to a received signal.

The foregoing description, for purposes of explanation, used specificnomenclature to provide a thorough understanding of the invention.However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the specificdetails are not required in order to practice the invention. In otherinstances, well-known circuits and devices are shown in block diagramform in order to avoid unnecessary distraction from the underlyinginvention. Thus, the foregoing descriptions of specific embodiments ofthe present invention are presented for purposes of illustration anddescription. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit theinvention to the precise forms disclosed, obviously many modificationsand variations are possible in view of the above teachings. Theembodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain theprinciples of the invention and its practical. applications, to therebyenable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention andvarious embodiments with various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated.

1. A method for processing a signal received by an antenna arraycomprising: receiving M replicas of the signal, each of the M replicasbeing received by one of a corresponding M physical antenna elements ofthe antenna array; determining M responses of the M physical antennaelements to the signal, each of the M responses corresponding to one ofthe M physical antenna elements; and generating, as a function of the Mresponses of the M physical antenna elements to the signal, N responsesto the signal, respectively associated with N spatial locations alongthe antenna array, wherein at least one of the N spatial locations isnot coincident with a location of any of the M physical antennaelements, and wherein said generating of said N responses to the signalis performed simultaneously with receiving at least a portion of thesignal by every one of said M physical antenna elements.
 2. The methodof claim 1, wherein N-M responses of the N responses are associated withvirtual antenna elements located among the physical antenna elements. 3.The method of claim 2, wherein at least one of the N-M responses isgenerated by interpolating at least two of the M responses.
 4. Themethod of claim 2, wherein at least one of the N-M responses isgenerated by extrapolating from at least two of the M responses.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, comprising: down converting the M replicas of thesignal from radio frequency (RF) to baseband prior to the determiningthe M responses of the of the M physical antenna elements.
 6. The methodof claim 1, wherein the determining comprises calculating M physicalweighting parameters, wherein the response of each of the M physicalantenna elements is determined as a function of a corresponding one ofthe M physical weighting parameters.
 7. The method of claim 1, whereinthe determining comprises sampling each of the M replicas such that eachof the M responses comprises a sample of a corresponding one of the Mreplicas of the signal.
 8. The method of claim 1, comprising: weightingeach of the N responses to the signal, thereby generating N weightedresponses; and combining the N weighted responses, thereby generating arepresentation of the signal.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein thesignal complies with a communication protocol selected from the groupconsisting of: orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), timedivision multiple access (TDMA), code division multiple access (CDMA),gaussian minimum shift keying (GMSK), complementary code keying (CCK),quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), frequency shift keying (FSK),phase shift keying (PSK), and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM). 10.An antenna system for receiving a signal, comprising: an antenna arrayincluding M physical antenna elements, wherein the M physical antennaelements are spatially arranged to receive one of a corresponding Mreplicas of the signal so as to be capable of generating M replicas ofthe received signal; and an array processing module for receiving the Mreplicas of the signal, said array processing module comprising M signalprocessing chains, wherein each of the M signal processing chains iscoupled to a corresponding one of the M physical antenna elements,wherein the array processing module is configured to generate N signalresponse values for the antenna array as a function of the M replicas ofthe received signal, wherein each of the M replicas is received by acorresponding one of the M physical antenna elements, wherein the Nsignal response values comprise at least one virtual antenna responsevalue, and wherein said generating of said N responses to the signal isperformed simultaneously with receiving at least a portion of the signalby every one of said M physical antenna elements.
 11. The antenna systemof claim 10, wherein the array processing module comprises: a weightingmodule coupled to the M signal processing chains wherein the weightingmodule is configured to calculate M physical weighting parameters as afunction of the M replicas of the received signal, wherein each of the Mphysical weighting parameters is associated with a corresponding one ofthe M physical antenna elements; and an interpolation module coupled tothe M signal processing chains, wherein the interpolation module isconfigured to generate the N signal response values for the antennaarray as a function of the M physical weighting parameters.
 12. Theantenna system of claim 11, wherein the interpolation module isconfigured to calculate the M signal response values as a function ofthe M physical weighting parameters and interpolate at least two of theM signal response values to provide the virtual antenna response value.13. The antenna system of claim 10, wherein the array-processing modulecomprises: an interpolation module coupled to the M signal processingchains, wherein the interpolation module is configured to generate the Nsignal response values for the antenna array as a function of the Mreplicas of the signal; a weighting module coupled to the M signalprocessing chains wherein the weighting module is configured tocalculate N weighting parameters as a function of the N signal responsevalues.
 14. The antenna system of claim 10, wherein the N signalresponse values for the antenna array comprise M signal response valuescorresponding to the M physical antenna elements, wherein the virtualantenna response value corresponds to a virtual antenna elementpositioned within a distance of λ/2 of at least two of the physicalantenna elements, wherein λ represents a wavelength of a carrierfrequency of the signal.
 15. The antenna system of claim 14, wherein thevirtual antenna element is interposed between at least two of the Mphysical antenna elements.
 16. The antenna system of claim 14, whereinthe virtual antenna element is located at an edge of the antenna array.17. The antenna system of claim 10, wherein the at least two of the Mphysical antenna elements are spatially separated by no more than adistance of λ/2, wherein λ represents a wavelength of a carrierfrequency of the signal.
 18. The antenna system of claim 10, wherein thearray processing module is configured to generate N signal responsevalues for the antenna array as a function of the M replicas of thereceived signal by methodologies selected from the group consisting ofinterpolation and extrapolation.
 19. The antenna system of claim 10,wherein the signal complies with a communication protocol selected fromthe group consisting of: orthogonal frequency division multiplexing(OFDM), time division multiple access (TDMA), code division multipleaccess (CDMA), Gaussian minimum shift keying (GMSK), complementary codekeying (CCK), quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), frequency shiftkeying (FSK), phase shift keying (PSK), and quadrature amplitudemodulation (QAM).
 20. A receiver system for receiving a signal,comprising: an antenna array including M physical antenna elements forreceiving M replicas of the signal, each of the M replicas beingreceived by a corresponding one of the M physical antenna elements;means for determining a response of each of the M physical antennaelements to the signal; and means for generating, as a function of theresponses of the M physical antenna elements to the signal, N responsesto the signal, respectively associated with N spatial locations alongthe antenna array, wherein at least one of the N spatial locations isnot coincident with a location of any of the M physical antennaelements, and wherein said generating of said N responses to the signalis performed simultaneously with receiving at least a portion of thesignal by every one of said M physical antenna elements.
 21. Thereceiver system of claim 20, wherein N-M responses of the N responsesare associated with virtual antenna elements located among the physicalantenna elements.
 22. The receiver system of claim 21, wherein the meansfor generating includes means for generating at least one of the N-Mresponses by interpolating at least two of the M responses.
 23. Thereceiver system of claim 21, wherein the means for generating includesmeans for generating at least one of the N-M responses by extrapolatingfrom at least two of the M responses.
 24. The receiver system of claim20, wherein the M physical antenna elements are spatially separated byno more than a distance of λ/2, wherein λ represents a wavelength of acarrier frequency of the signal.
 25. The receiver system of claim 20,wherein the means for determining comprises means for calculating Mphysical weighting parameters, wherein the response of each of the Mphysical antenna elements is determined as a function of a correspondingone of the M physical weighting parameters.
 26. The receiver system ofclaim 20, wherein the means for determining comprises means for samplingeach of the M replicas being received by one of a corresponding Mphysical antenna elements, wherein the response of each of the Mphysical antenna elements is a sample of a corresponding one of the Mreplicas of the signal.
 27. The receiver system of claim 20, comprising:means for weighting each of the N responses to the signal to produce Nweighted responses; and means for combining the N weighted responses toproduce a representation of the signal.
 28. The receiver system of 20,wherein the signal complies with a communication protocol selected fromthe group consisting of: orthogonal frequency division multiplexing(OFDM), time division multiple access (TDMA), code division multipleaccess (CDMA), gaussian minimum shift keying (GMSK), complementary codekeying (CCK), quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), frequency shiftkeying (FSK), phase shift keying (PSK), and quadrature amplitudemodulation (QAM).
 29. A wireless communications device, comprising: amultiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) receiver that comprises an antennaarray comprising M physical antenna elements that receive M replicas ofa wireless signal, each of the M replicas being received by acorresponding one of the M physical antenna elements, and at least oneprocessor that enables determining a response of each of the M physicalantenna elements to the signal, wherein M and N are integers, whereinsaid at least one processor enables generating, as a function of theresponses of the M physical antenna elements to the signal, N responsesto the signal, respectively associated with N spatial locations alongthe antenna array, wherein at least one of the N spatial locations isnot coincident with a location of any of the M physical antennaelements, and wherein said generating of said N responses to the signalis performed simultaneously with receiving at least a portion of thesignal by every one of said M physical antenna elements.
 30. Thewireless communications device of claim 29, wherein N-M responses of theN responses are associated with virtual antenna elements located amongthe physical antenna elements.
 31. The wireless communications device ofclaim 29, wherein the wireless communications device performs orthogonalfrequency division multiplexing (OFDM).
 32. The wireless communicationsdevice of claim 31, wherein the wireless communications device performsspread spectrum modulation.
 33. The wireless communications device claim29, wherein the at least one processor enables calculation of M physicalweighting parameters, and wherein the response of each of the M physicalantenna elements is determined as a function of a corresponding one ofthe M physical weighting parameters.
 34. The wireless communicationsdevice of claim 29, wherein the at least one processor enables samplingof each of the M replicas being received by one of a corresponding Mphysical antenna elements, and wherein the response of each of the Mphysical antenna elements is a sample of a corresponding one of the Mreplicas of the signal.
 35. The wireless communications device of claim29, the wireless communications device performs spread spectrummodulation.
 36. The wireless communications device of claim 29, whereinthe wireless communications device is a mobile wireless communicationsdevice.
 37. The wireless communications device of claim 36, wherein themobile wireless communications device receives voice and data.
 38. Thewireless communications device of claim 37, wherein the mobile wirelesscommunications device receives video.
 39. The wireless communicationsdevice of claim 29, wherein the wireless communications device is awireless cellular communications device.
 40. The wireless communicationsdevice of claim 29, wherein said at least one processor performsinterpolation.